The new MASTODON music video for 'Seabeast' from their critically acclaimed album Laviathan is available online for viewing at the Underground Video television website here. All other Mastodon music videos along with exclusively UVTV produced live material is also available at the same location for your viewing pleasure.

The fury surrounding Slayer's upcoming album and recently announced "The Unholy Alliance Tour - Preaching to the Perverted" has not died down and new information is still being revealed piece by piece.

The four original members of SLAYER ­ Tom Araya/bass, vocals, Kerry King/guitars, Jeff Hanneman/guitars, and Dave Lombardo/drums - the pioneers and undisputed kings of extreme speed/thrash metal, have entered a Los Angeles-area studio to record what will be their first new studio album since 1990's "Seasons In The Abyss." Rick Rubin, who helped solidify the much-emulated Slayer sound beginning with their genre-defining 1986 classic "Reign In Blood," has taken the helm as executive producer of the project.

Working closely with Rubin will be Josh Abraham (Korn, Velvet Revolver, Atreyu) who will produce the album. "We're real happy to have Josh on the team," said Slayer's Jeff Hanneman. "He's a very creative and intuitive guy, he knows music, and he really gets who Slayer is and what we're doing." The as yet untitled album will be released on Slayer's long-time label, Rubin's American Recordings/Warner Bros. Records, and is expected out this fall. As previously reported, The new album is expected to feature 11 songs, one of which will carry the title of "Cult".

"Dave's been back with us, playing live, for a couple of years now, and we're all looking forward to recording together again," said the band's Tom Araya. Kerry King added, "There really is no one like Dave ­ he doesn't have to work at what he does, he just walks in, picks up his sticks and goes."

Said Lombardo, "It feels really good being back with the same guys I started out with. The chemistry is definitely there, that's the exciting part of it, to capture that chemistry again. And that's what is happening."

Jeff, Tom and Kerry have been writing songs for this new album since they wrapped their last North American tour in September 2004. "This is probably the most prepared we've been to record an album since the 80s," King added. "We've been writing and cutting demos for months." While these may change, working titles for some of the songs that will be recorded include "Catalyst," "Cult," "Supremist," and "Consfearacy." "I like to write songs that have different meanings for different people," said King, "where everyone can say, ŒI know what he means,' but still get their own sense of what the song is about."

Finally, on 6.6.06 (a date already snatched up by for numerous death metal releases, most notably Deicide's) in San Diego, CA, Slayer will kick off a seven-week summer trek, "The Unholy Alliance Tour ­ Preaching to the Perverted," that boasts what has got to be the genre's coolest line-up of the summer ­ Lamb of God, Mastodon and Children of Bodom (who will rotate the second and third slots), and Thine Eyes Bleed who will open the shows. Not only is the line-up terrific, but ticket prices will reportedly not exceed $39.00, giving fans a great value for their dollar.

According to Slayer's long-time manager Rick Sales, "We want to make 'The Unholy Alliance' tour an annual global event, so we decided to be smart about the design from the beginning. We chose to book most of the tour's shows at indoor venues, as that allows the bands and the fans amenities like air conditioning and indoor bathrooms, as well as the very best stage lighting, production, and sound and less expensive concession prices. The few shows that will be played outside will be played at night in permanent facilities with our lighting, production, and so on. Everyone wins."

With more dates and details to be added, the confirmed dates so far for "The Unholy Alliance Tour ­ Preaching to the Perverted" are as follows:

It was too good to be true. Contrary to previous speculation, SLAYER will be hitting the road with LAMB OF GOD, MASTODON, CHILDREN OF BODOM, and THINE EYES BLEED for the Unholy Alliance Tour. The following is from an MTV.com article:

"Dubbed the Unholy Alliance Tour, the trek will make stops in most major cities, although the actual routing of the run is still being fleshed out. Either way King's anxious to hit the road again.

"It's been 18 months since we've toured in the States," he explained. "People are going to be chomping at the bit to see us again. Our initial thought [with Unholy Alliance] was to go up against Ozzfest, because I think that tour's getting a little bit tired and I think people are tired of going out and getting sunburned for hours every summer. Every place we play is going to be indoors, with a good-sized lineup. We're certainly not going to try to make Ozzfest go away. We're just trying to offer an alternative."

According to Rick Sales, SLAYER's manager of 18 years, the idea's to make the Unholy Alliance Tour an annual event "with the best bands out there." During the fall of 2004, SLAYER, SLIPKNOT, MASTODON and HATEBREED toured Europe under the Unholy Alliance tag. Sales also wants to take the tour global and said following its U.S. run, the Alliance will return to Europe, followed by stints in Japan and Australia — although, he noted the lineups would be different on each leg.

"I think we're in a different spot than Ozzfest," Sales continued. "This is more extreme and it's not involving any sort of 'radio bands.' It's a no-compromise lineup, the best of the breed. We think this is a great live event and that the tour will become bigger than the lineup. I think Ozzfest has proven that."

SLAYER, who Sales said declined an Ozzfest 2006 invite, will deliver an hour-plus set to close out each night of the Unholy Alliance; THINE EYES BLEED will open on all dates, followed by BODOM and MASTODON (who'll be rotating slots) and then LAMB OF GOD. King said SLAYER will debut some new material from the stage.

On Tuesday SLAYER entered a Los Angeles studio, where they started recording the 11 songs that'll comprise their yet-untitled album. Rick Rubin (JAY-Z, RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS) will executive-produce the disc, while Josh Abraham (VELVET REVOLVER, STAIND) will turn the knobs. One of the songs has an official title ("Cult"), but all of them, King promised, will be devastatingly grim.

"There are definitely things you can't write about in SLAYER, and there are definitely things people expect you to write about," he said. "Everybody expects war, Satanism or anti-religious stuff — and this record's chock-full of that."

The LP, which the band hopes to finish in time for a late June release, will be the first to feature original drummer Dave Lombardo in more than 15 years. Their last outing together was 1990's Seasons in the Abyss.

"[Drummer] Paul [Bostaph], who we did God Hates Us All with, kind of had an elbow problem, and now he's with EXODUS," King said. "When Paul left us ... it was brought to our attention that Dave was available. And we figured if anybody should be doing this, it should be him."

Most of the 11 songs SLAYER will record were written more than two years ago, the guitarist said. "We're hoping to do it old-school and record everything in like four weeks," he added. "We're ready. This is probably the most ready we've been since Seasons. We've been spinning our wheels in rehearsals, just waiting for the green light on this thing. Now that we've got it, we're ready to go.

"It's definitely going to be a riff-fest," King continued. "There's riffs all over the place. As much time as we've had to work on it, there better be riffs on it. I think anybody who likes SLAYER, musically, is going to love it."

While Sales said SLAYER's studio LP probably won't be in stores by June 6, he says the band will release a digital download, EP or something else to coincide with the tour launch.

On Saturday, MTV2's "Headbangers Ball" will feature an exclusive interview with bassist Tom Araya regarding the forthcoming album and the Unholy Alliance run."

MTV2 and Roadrunner Records have announced the release of the third installment in the successful series – MTV2 HEADBANGERS BALL: THE REVENGE. The low priced, double-disc is due in stores on April 11, 2006.

On the heels of the Gold certification of the first installment, MTV2 HEADBANGERS BALL, VOLUME 1 and the success with MTV2 HEADBANGERS BALL, VOLUME 2, MTV2 and Roadrunner Records once again set out to gather the very best in Hard Rock and Heavy Metal. The result is more than 2 1/2 hours of music on 2 CDs: disc one represents the strongest tracks from today's biggest rock bands, and disc two brings together the strongest up-and-comers from the underground rock scene.

In addition to the genre-defining anthems that represent the best of the show, there are enough rare and unreleased tracks to satisfy tastemaker metal fans as well. Packed with a total of 38 hard-charging tracks, this collection has 7 exclusive offerings. They include the Terry Date mix of Slipknot's "Before I Forget", and the live recording of Killswitch Engage's "A Bid Farewell", which both see their first CD release on this compilation. Other exclusives are brand new tracks from Hatebreed and Walls Of Jericho, both of which were written especially for this release (Hatebreed's lead vocalist, Jamey Jasta, is the host of the Headbangers Ball program on MTV2). A video for the Hatebreed track, entitled "To The Threshold", will air on video channels in March. A side project of Jasta's, Kingdom of Sorrow (which also includes members of Down, Crowbar and Seemless), also throws a brand new track into the ring. The compilation beat Dragonforce and 36 Crazyfists' record releases to the punch with fresh new tracks from these up-and-comers.

Mastodon have completed work on the third music video from their award-winning album, Leviathan. The video, for the song "Seabeast", was shot on location at the historic Madison Theater in the band's hometown of Atlanta, GA. "Seabeast" was produced and directed by Jonathan Rej (Man Or Astroman, Further Seems Forever, Stretch Armstrong) and Tom Bingham for Authority Films who also shot the band's video for "Blood and Thunder." The video for "Seabeast" dictates the great battle between Ahab, Mr. Queequeg, pride and creatures of the sea.

Mastodon's "Seabeast" video was shot with a hand cranked 35 mm camera employing many of the film making techniques of the 20's and 30's. Director Rej comments: "The Madison Theater was the perfect location to shoot such a video as it was open in 1927 as a silent movie theater and was the first theater in Atlanta to show "talkies." This is the first time the theater has been used in almost 30 years." Photos taken by Ryan Russell during the shoot are available at this location. "Seabeast" is expected to make its world network premiere(s) imminently, stayed tuned to your favorite music video provider.

Chicago's Yakuza will release the band's long-awaited new album, "Samsara" on March 21, 2006 through Prosthetic Records. After releasing Way of The Dead in 2002 to critical praise, the band played alongside a list of diverse bands such Opeth, Lacuna Coil, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Sonic Youth, and Melt Banana. Now, having recorded 10 new tracks with producer Matt Bayles (Isis, Botch, Pearl Jam) in 2005 with guests including pianist Jim Baker, cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm, Sanford Parker, and Mastodon's Troy Sanders, Samsara will be the follow-up to hoards of positive press from the last record.

According to the new issue of Resound magazine (the free magazine/mail-order catalog of Relapse Records), MASTODON have set "Blood Mountain" as the tentative title of the follow-up to 2004's "Leviathan", due next summer via Warner Bros.

"We want the whole thing to flow together as one big piece of music, where the end of one song links up with the beginning of the next one," MASTODON drummer Brann Dailor recently told Revolver magazine. "We want the whole experience to be like movements in a symphony."

MASTODON started writing new riffs shortly after completing "Leviathan" and came up with a batch of ideas during various tours. But it was during last summer's Ozzfest that they made their greatest creative progress. "You can't really control when the ideas come," said Dailor. "I always have a dictaphone handy, and [singer] Brent [Hines] and [guitarist] Bill [Kelliher] bring acoustic guitars everywhere, and if they come up with something messing around, we'll record it. We always keep our minds open."

By the time MASTODON started rehearsals in mid-October, they had around 10 songs to evaluate and explore. While it's too early to know exactly what the band's next album will sound like, Dailor says it will likely be more progressive and thrashier. "We've been listening to a lot of newer KING CRIMSON and getting off on that," he explained. "But also, we toured with SLAYER and listened to them every night for three months, and that's gotta have some sort of effect."

HIGH ON FIRE have announced the plans for a full North American headlining tour starting in January. The Decibel Magazine sponsored tour, in support of the band's critically acclaimed album Blessed Black Wings, includes special guests THE BRONX, BIG BUSINESS and labelmates BURIED INSIDE. A complete listing of North American tour dates will be announced shortly.

HIGH ON FIRE will also return to Europe for an appearance at the legendary All Tomorrows Party on invitation from headliners THE MARS VOLTA. The European tour will also encompass headlining shows in France, Spain, and Belgium as well as UK and Greek dates supporting MASTODON.

Additionally, "Devilution," the lead off track from Blessed Black Wings, will appear in Tony Hawk's American Wasteland video game. The video for "Devilution" can be seen on MTV2 and dozens of regional video shows throughout North America.

VH1 has announced plans to launch "VH1 Rock Docs", an all-new slate of high-end feature-length programs in 2006. Each of the docs will reveal an untold story in the history of rock and hip-hop music, combining never-before-seen footage with a unique and unconventional narrative approach. The documentaries will tell some of the most unique stories of the artists and music from a wide range of genres, styles, and musical perspectives. The "VH1 Rock Docs" slated for premiere in 2006 include a four-hour definitive history of heavy metal, "The U.S. vs. John Lennon", "The Last Days of Lisa Lopes" and "DMC: The Real Me". Additional documentaries will be announced shortly. A brief synopsis of the heavy metal documentary reads as follows:

"What Ken Burns did for jazz, VH1 does for heavy metal — only a lot louder. This four-part documentary traces the evolution of heavy metal music and culture from BLACK SABBATH to WHITE ZOMBIE, from LED ZEP to DEF LEP, from MOTÖRHEAD to MASTODON. In the same vein as VH1's critically acclaimed 2004 hip-hop chronicle, 'And You Don't Stop', this documentary series will use interviews, verite moments and vintage footage to bring metal's history to life, told from the perspective of the musicians, promoters, writers and fans who have kept metal's flame alive for four decades."

Well it was one hell of a tour, the 10th annual Ozzfest Summer Amphitheatre Tour came to an end once again in West Palm Beach, FL and I had a chance to be there. For 6 years now I have been planning on going to Ozzfest but for some reason something has always came up and I couldn't go. Last year I had everything lined up to go, and a damn hurricane hit the place. This year I finally lucked out and went to my first Ozzfest. Let me tell you "I have waited for this for a very long time." I loaded up the Tahoe with a couple friends and my wife and we left about 2:00am Saturday morning and drove about 9 1/2 hours from Charleston to West Palm Beach, FL. That was a long drive, I probably should have gone to the one in Charlotte, NC the night before but......."The best one is the last one" that's what I have always been told. More...

On October 18th, Immortal Records will release the Masters Of Horror soundtrack featuring brand new (previously unreleased) tracks from Mudvayne, Shadows Fall, Norma Jean, and Buckethead featuring Serj Tankian. The final track listing is as follows:

I attended Ozzfest 2005 on Sunday, July 24 in Bristow, Virginia’s Nissan Pavilion (my report is running late, as I’ve found myself overcommitted lately). This fest was the tenth annual Ozzfest, and not to be outdone by last year’s excellent lineup, this year they sported an equally as good lineup spanning more genres of metal than before. This year’s lineup also contained numerous headliner-quality bands on both stages including, Killswitch Engage, Shadows Fall, Rob Zombie, Mudvayne, and of course Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath.

Had I known that both people I was supposed to go with would bail out, I would have lined up a photo pass for the whole show to give me something more to do. As it turned out, I pretty much just enjoyed the show and met up with As I Lay Dying frontman Tim Lambesis for an interview that we missed in Philadelphia, PA.

While this year’s lineup sported mostly bands I knew and had heard, most I was only vaguely familiar with, so pardon the lack of specific details such as song names, etc. in many cases. More...

Due to a family emergency, MASTODON will not be performing at the Detroit Ozzfest this Thursday, August 4. The band will return for the Ozzfest shows this weekend.

As previously reported, MASTODON, A DOZEN FURIES and IT DIES TODAY will be the featured guests on the special "Ozzfest Second Stage" edition of the nationally syndicated radio show "Rockline" airing Monday, August 8. The live show begins at 8:30 p.m. PT / 11:30 p.m. ET, and fans are encouraged to call in with questions during the program at (800) 344-ROCK (7625).

MASTODON, A DOZEN FURIES and IT DIES TODAY will be the featured guests on the special "Ozzfest Second Stage" edition of the nationally syndicated radio show "Rockline" airing Monday, August 8. The live show begins at 8:30 p.m. PT / 11:30 p.m. ET, and fans are encouraged to call in with questions during the program at (800) 344-ROCK (7625). To find a station near you, check out www.rocklineradio.com.

An off-fest show with Arch Enemy, The Black Dahlia Murder, It Dies Today, The Haunted, and A Dozen Furies has been confirmed for July 17th in Burlington, VT at the Higher Ground Ballroom. More off-fest dates are as follows:

Shadows Fall - Opening bands for these dates are still to be announced: